Title: Coward

Rating: Teen. Age 13 and up

Anime: Naruto

Paring: Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura

Type: Alternate universe

Inspiration: Mary Song (Oh my my my) Taylor Swift

Summary: "I'm not a coward." He said dangerously.

"Prove it." She said challengingly. "Kiss me."

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Sasuke Uchiha had his trademark scowl upon his cherubic face as he crossed his arms over his chest and huffed out angrily. At nine years old, the youngest of the Uchiha was certainly not in the least interested in attending his mother's brunch. He was interested in continuing his endless hours of practicing Tai-kwon-Do with his older brother, Itachi and his father, Fugaku.

Looking around, he saw mostly women and girls in dresses and flowers, and teas and small talks. His mother had all but dragged him out from the training yard and dressed him up nicely too before shoving his hide into the waiting limo and took off towards her best friend's house. Sasuke did not have time to protest since he was so angry for ending the lesson earlier than usual. The tournaments were coming up soon and he needed to be in the best fighting shape a boy his age could be.

Aside from the brunch and the tournaments on his mind, Sasuke's scowl immediately deepened when he caught sight of his long time pink haired nemesis sitting on one of the decorative tables with a teacup in her hand and a bright smile on her face. Sneeringly, Sasuke averted his gaze toward the entrance of the manicured yard and thought about making a run for the car so that he could leave early.

It would have worked too if his mother had not interrupted at that moment and practically shove him toward the table full of giggling girls in their over the top dresses and hairdos. Sasuke scrunched his nose distastefully and dug his heels into the green grass forcefully, but no matter how hard he tried, working out or not, he was still a nine years old boy whose body had not yet been fully developed.

"Sakura-chan. Look who's here?" Mizumi said as she patted her daughter's hair with a smile.

Sakura Haruno turned her brilliant gaze away from her friends and looked at her mother before her eyes landed on her archenemy and she discretely stuck out her tongue before she stood up to give Mitoko a hug.

"Auntie Mikoto. It's a great to see you again. How was your summer in Aruba?" Sakura asked sweetly.

"Sakura. Lovely as always. Aruba was great. Though I would liked it better if someone had not spent the whole trip sulking." Mikoto said with a sighed.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun is a mood killer like that." Sakura remarked with a wide smirked and turned to stare at the sneering Uchiha.

"Actually, I was talking about Ita..." Mikoto began but sent Sasuke a sharp glare toward the pink haired girl and looked about ready to jump her.

"Sasuke." His mother said warningly and he bit out a sigh. Sometimes like these, he wondered why in the hell did his mother made him take etiquette lessons when a girl like Sakura did not even deserves one. Bowing stiffly for a few seconds, he muttered a greeting halfheartedly.

Sakura sent him a smile, which he could clearly translated into her version of 'a wicked smirk' as she curtseyed lowly in return.

He could literally hear his mother and Auntie Mizumi twittered excitedly behind them.

"Sakura. Why don't you show Sasuke your new tree house that you built last weekend?" her mother suggested with a sweet smile on her face. Sakura immediately perked up since she still owed him a black eye when he pushed her into the mud puddle last time.

"Gladly, mother. Come along, Sasuke-kun." Sasuke cringed as she Sakura said sweetly as she turned towards her group of friends and smiled at them before turning back towards the women. "Would you kindly excuse us." She said properly and all but dragged Sasuke by the collar towards the backyard.

Mikoto and Mizumi barely contained their joy when they saw their children walked away. Secretly in their mind, their children were going to be the cutest couple alive. They went off to plan the wedding and argued which cities were the best for their honeymoon.

Sakura looked back to make sure they were out of sight before jerking Sasuke closer to her and smirked evilly.

"Payback time, jerk." She said with an evil cackle as she rolled up the sleeves of her pristine white dress.

"What? Are you going to pick a fight with me, Wench?" Sasuke said mockingly as Sakura slipped out of her shiny Mary Jane and assumed the fighting stance.

"Heh. Damn you. I've been practicing the whole summer for this." Sakura said smugly.

Sasuke quirked a brow. The girl was barely eight years old and compare to the girl he had just seen, she had transformed completely from a prim and proper miss into a bully the next. Her language had surprised him a bit. She must have hang out too much with that Yamanaka girl.

"Hn." He replied and looked bored when he noticed her stance was off a bit. He guessed she did practice but not as much as he did. "Don't expect me to slack off just because you're a girl."

He was completely prepared when she lunged at him with a shrill battle cry and he dodged her quite easily. Sakura growled when he missed her target and threw punches endlessly at his face. Too bad none landed and he was smirking arrogantly.

Sakura puffed out angrily as she stopped her motion to catch her breath. She did not even touch him! How was that possible?! She had spent her whole summer practicing and missing out all of the stuff she could have done with her friends like shopping and going to the movies.

'Use your brain, Sakura. You are a Haruno and Harunos do not give up easily. An eye for an eye.' She thought of the Code of Hammurabi and then she noticed something. Sasuke had not even hit her despite his claim earlier, let alone touch her. A thought went through her and she laughed loudly while giving him a mocking glance with her stubborn emerald eyes.

"Pathetic." She said as she continued to laugh. Sasuke scrunched his brows and glared at her.

"What the hell are you talking about?" the Uchiha asked annoyed with her sudden change of attitude.

"You're a coward." Sakura remarked with bravado as she unrolled her sleeves and fluffed her waist length pink hair. She mentally giggled gleefully when the Uchiha froze on the spot.

"What did you call me?" Sasuke said dangerously, his glittering eyes daring her to repeat what she had said.

"You're a coward. 'Don't expect me to go easy on you just because you're a girl.'" Sakura quoted sarcastically as she tried to imitate Sasuke's deep voice. "Not going to follow through with your threat, Uchiha?"

Sasuke was torn. He did not want to be labeled as coward because he was not one. The girl was just jerking his chain. He knew it! Despite his hatred he felt towards her, she was regardless a girl and he was taught from birth never to hit a woman. His skills were for protecting the weak, not to abuse it. But damn, she was walking on a fine line.

"I. Am. Not. A. Coward." He said coldly.

Sakura smirked. This was too easy. "Prove it." She said smartly as she stepped closer to him. Since she was a good head shorter than he was, she only reached his shoulder. "Kiss me." Sakura finished smugly.

Sasuke's face plaed as he looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Can't do it?" Sakura said haughtily after a while when he stood still. She knew he was not going to do it anyway. "I thought so." She finished before whirling around to leave. She did not take more than two steps when Sasuke snagged her elbow.

"Pucker up." He said with a smirk as he leaned in closer towards her face. Sakura's eyes widened as his face came closer before she squeezed her eyes close and unleashed a very pronounced scream and in the process decked his jaw before running wildly out of the yard.

Sasuke sat stunt on the ground holding his injured jaw. He did not think that she had that much power in her punch. He was going to have to think of a different answer when his family asked why he was sporting a very bruising jaw.

His face suddenly exploded with hot colors as he finally grasped his action before.

He had almost kissed Sakura.

He made a face.

She ran away.

The smirk returned. Who is the coward now, Haruno?

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Seventeen years old Sakura waited impatiently by the schoolyard where her track practiced had just ended. She should have been home half an hour ago if not for her broke down car. Glancing at the watch on her wrist, it was already ten-thirty and if Ino and the rest of the team would not stop drooling at the male's soccer team soon, she was going to snap. Very soon.

"Inoooooo. I need to get home." Sakura whined as she seriously tried her hardest not to stomp her feet on the ground.

"Just a minute, Forehead. Damn, look at his abs." Ino said with a fox whistle as she practically drooled over the sight.

"Look at his legs. Mmm. De-li-ci-ou-ss." Temari added as her eyes practically popped out of its sockets.

"You have a boyfriend." Sakura pointed out at the blonde's comment. "Shikamaru is not going to be impressed when he hears you."

Temari ignored the party-pooper like the rest of the girls had done for years when it comes to Sasuke Uchiha.

"Look at his ass. I'd tap that sweet thing any time." Tenten said with a dreamy sigh.

"Neji is going to wring Uchiha's neck when he hears that." Sakura muttered and kept that thought. She might just tell Neji just for the satisfaction after all.

So what if two third of the Konoha High School drooled over the infamous Soccer Captain that lead the school to victory against Oto High school four years straight? What if he was the Captain of the Tai-Kwan- Do club? What if he was a beautiful Greek God among the female population? What if he was smart and a straight A's student with every college scouting his name for their teams and offering him scholarships to their University?

He was Sasuke Uchiha for god's sake. Was she the only one who thinks this is so wrong? The Uchiha was arrogant and self-centered, annoying and egotistical, conceited and pigheaded jerk who goes out of his way just to annoy the holy hell out of her, and he was no better now than he was since she had known him.

The loud cheers from the group of cheerleaders interrupted her thought as she looked up to see Sasuke scored a goal in their mock game. Honestly, like that was any news. Moreover, what were the cheerleaders still doing there? They were cheering more for the soccer team than the original football team, which they lost horribly during their homecoming game. The poor guys had all but shaved their head and went to joint the soccer team the next day.

"God, why don't you just go and praise him at his talent instead of looking through the fences?" Sakura mumbled grumpily as she swatted her arm where the mosquitoes had bitten her.

"Excellent idea, Sakura. Let us go girls." Ino said with a clap of her hands as she led the way. Sakura gasped and cursed discretely before following her ride home, although walking seemed like an appealing idea right now.

Grumpily, she entered the soccer field with her arms across her chest and turned her eyes anywhere but the Uchiha. She hated to admit it but he was a fine piece of specimen all right. With his bare upper body glistened with sweat, strong legs from regular running and martial arts, face of high aristocratic cheekbones and thin lips. It was no doubt, why girls are attracted to him.

Sakura looked at Temari lectured her boyfriend all the while she wagged her forefinger about some safety before she whacked her boyfriend across the back of his head when he mumbled his trademark 'troublesome' comment.

Tenten was handing a towel to Neji who accepted with a small real smile, which Sakura come to noticed was specifically reserved for Tenten alone. Those two had feelings for one another over ten years and yet to say anything. Even the 'Dense Sakura', Temari's pet name for her, had come too noticed as well as the rest of the senior class.

Then there were Naruto, the hyperactive and jubilant blonde and Hinata, the quiet and shy girl who was desperately in love with him. Calling Naruto dense was like calling the kettle black since she was no better herself. If only Naruto would paid more close attention to Hinata. Despite her title, Hinata was fiercely protective and bared her fangs towards any girls who remarkably showed any small interest in the Blonde.

'There's one more you haven't look at yet.' Her inner persona said.

'And I'm not going to either." Sakura countered.

"Sakuraaa-chan." Naruto called out loudly from across the field as she came running. Sakura smiled and waited for Kiba to thump him for shouting too loud and scaring Akamaru, which Naruto would undoubtedly countered with that pets are not allow during practices and Kiba would undeniably replied angrily that Akamaru was part of the family before the two tumble into a fight.

Sakura laughed when Kiba yelled at Naruto and tripped him face first into the grass and Hinata stuttered helplessly.

"Sakura-san. The youth of my spring." Came a shout as a figure in a bowl haircut came running forward in green spandex suit. Sakura sweat dropped at Rock Lee's unique greeting. He rushed towards her and stopped with a grin on his face. "I'm so glad to see you. My energy has been restored." He said proudly with hearts in his eyes. "To repay you, I will invite you to dinner tomorrow night."

"You really don't have to do that." Sakura said with a nervous giggle.

"Nonsense. It's the right thing to--" Rock Lee was cut off when Ino dragged him away by the collar.

"Come on Lee. I'll give you a ride home." She muttered before walking towards the parking lot despite Lee's protest that he had to run five hundred laps around the school.

"Sorry, Sakura. I have to go." Ino shouted from across the field and Sakura stood stunt. She turned around to see that the rest of the group had mysteriously disappeared and she was alone in the field. Stifling a sigh, Sakura packed up her stuff and turned to leave only to bump into a really hard brick wall.

"Where do you think you're going?" the wall said with a familiar deep voice. Sakura closed her eyes and cursed Ino to the pits of Hades. The traitor had turned her over to the devil. Wait until she got her hands on her!

"Home." Sakura replied shortly as she glared at the standing Uchiha. She felt extremely small near his presence and not only because she was a good eight inches shorter than his six-three height.

"How are you planning on getting there?" he asked with a quirked brow.

"None of your business, but if you must know, I have legs and I'm a good runner. I'll be home in ten minutes." she replied as she got up and dusted her track shorts. Damn Ino.

"You'll go home with me." He said curtly before turning to leave. Sakura gaped at his audacity and almost shrieked out from frustration. It will be a cold day in hell before she wad going anywhere near him without a good ten-foot pole. Sakura turned the other way to leave and found her elbow caught again.

"Did you not hear what I said?" his husky voice said. How the hell did he get here so fast? Sakura opened her mouth to smartly tell him to kindly go away before the loud rumble from the sky cut her off. Seconds later, large raindrops splattered around her and she almost gave into crying. Why must the god hate her this way? "Looks like you have no choice." Sasuke said with a small smirked before half dragged a wet Sakura towards his sleek black Jaguar.

Sakura knew that she did not have a choice once the rain started. She might be arrogant and stubborn, but she was not stupid and certainly not suicidal to walk anywhere in this kind of weather. Damn her broken car. Damn ditching best friend. In addition, yes, she even went as far as to damn Mother Nature.

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Sasuke took out his keys and pressed the alarm to unlock the doors. He took his soccer gears and tossed it into the trunk along with Sakura's, though he did wrestle with the wench a bit to get it since she had a death grip on it. He rolled his eyes upward when she made no move to get into the car. He walked toward her side and opened the door and all but shoved her in before closing the door and went back toward the driver side.

He ignored her ultimate death glare as he turned on the heat and secretly blasted towards her side. She looked like a drown kitten with her pink hair dripping wet and her face flushed. Despite the cool spring evening, it had turned cold along with the rain.

"I didn't ask you to bring me home." Sakura finally mumbled as she tucked her arms across her chest in a belligerent gesture. Sasuke gave her a brief glance before pulling out of the parking lot. Even with his perfect eyesight, the storm was heavy and blurred the road. Maybe he should not have wait for her after all while she flirted with Rock Lee. He stifled a sigh. On the other hand, his mother would have his head if she knows that he deliberately left her to walk home alone. He was very well aware of the fact that that Ino girl had arranged the whole ride predicament and he should have left before he was caught up in it.

"Hn." He replied noncommittally as he continued to drive silently. He should have picked his choice of signing up for the Community carnival when Ino had kindly asked him rather than to have her sprung something like this on him.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorn.

He was beginning to understand the meaning of that phrase now.

"And you did not have to act so smug about it either." She continued glaring out the window.

"Hn." Sasuke responded. If the storm continued like this, he was seriously considering pulling over and makes a pit stop somewhere until it cleared up. However, he would have to face the sly looks and remarks from his family when he tells them about his lateness and with Sakura Haruno no less. His mother would beamed and probably booked the place for the wedding no doubt. No, better not.

"Damn rain…."

"Hn." Sasuke risked a glance toward Sakura to see her still glaring wildly out the window. He cursed when the sign on the road he normally take to Sakura's house closed down with orange and white cones blocking the way. Sighing, he figured that he would have to take the long way home. Damn, he was so forward looking toward a hot shower too.

"…Arrogant too. I can't believe I have to be stuck with you of all people. Ino is so going to get it when I get my hands on her. She's going to wish she's never born." Sakura continued to mumble to herself and Sasuke mulled over if he should turn back into the Mental Institution they had just passed by to drop her off, or at least get her checked out. He was sure that her mumble resembled some symptoms he had read.

"You're annoying." Sasuke cut her off as she turned towards him.

"Excuse me?" Sakura asked in a disbelieving tone. "I'm annoying? Well, you're the one to talk Mr. I-have-a-stick-up-my-behind and…and…where the hell are we?" she asked bewildered as she turned to looked around wildly.

This time, Sasuke did let out a chuckle. She looked genuinely confused. "The road was closed so I had to take the turn."

Sakura scrunched up her brows before smothering it. She had the same problem with it this morning. "Take a left here." She pointed out onto the small road and Sasuke looked dubiously at it. "Trust me. I took it this morning on the way to school."

Sighing, he made the turn and drove further down…

Until they were in front of a pond.

Sasuke blinked twice and once more for a good measure to see that, the pond was not a product of his imagination after all. Sakura let out a nervous trilled laugh.

"Ah-ha-ha-aa. You must have taken the wrong turn." She said and Sasuke wanted to throttle her right then and there. He did not know what kind of Karma he was paying, but the car suddenly went off. His eyes widened.

They had used up all of the gas and the tank was empty.

Groaning, he wanted to bash something. Presumably his head.

"What's going on?" Sakura's panic voice shot out through the silence. "Why isn't the car moving?" she asked frantically.

"There's no more gas, genius." He snapped, his patient wearing thin.

"No more…" she went pale. "Are you serious?"

"No. I'm kidding at a time like this." He said with a snarl that accompanied with a raging thunder. Sakura squealed and jumped out of her seat.

"There must be something…" Sasuke muttered as he tried to think of a way to contact anyone.

"Cell phones." Sakura squeaked out as she rumpled into her bag and when though he doubt that they could get a signal in the middle of nowhere and add in the storm, he did took his cell phone out to check.

As expected. No bars. No bars means no service. Some Verizon network, he thought surly.

"I can't believe this." Sakura said softly.

Sasuke's patient finally snapped as he banged against the steering wheel. "I should have known than to trust you with directions." He sneered as he turned slowly towards a trembling Sakura. "You were always clueless when it comes to directions and you're still the same. Useless and annoying. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be in this mess."

Sakura's eyes flashed angrily. "I'm sorry for trying to help. I am sorry that I am so useless and annoying. However, you know what, you are no better. Who are you to sit there and judge me of my value? You think you are so smart and clever. Well, good luck in trying to get home, assholes. I'm leaving!"

With that, she opened the door and stormed out into the rain. She held her trembling lips and tears in as she waded through the thick bushes and winced when she felt scrapes and cuts from the dead branches lying around. She did not bother to stop. All she wanted to do right now was to get far away from here as soon as possible so she would not do something she regrets later on. Like hitting him or worst, cry in front of him.

Sasuke stared shocked as Sakura pushed opened the door and got out into the rain. It took him a few seconds to get back to reality before he cursed and went after her. She was running full speed and he almost forgot how fast she could be. He took off after her, his anger was replaced with worry when he could barely distinguish her from the rain.

Finally, he caught up with her and he wasted no time barreling into her from behind. They both went down onto the hard ground but he managed to twist them over so that he landed on the bottom and she landed on top of him. She clawed him with her nails and Sasuke tried his best to stay calm.

"Stop it. Are you crazy?" he shouted as he grabbed a hold onto both of her arms to keep her in place. She was breathing heavily as she got off of him. He followed through.

They were both thoroughly wet when they got back o the car. Neither had spoken since they had nothing to say, but mostly from the chills from the rain. Sasuke began to take off his clothes save for his practiced shorts. He was freezing to death and judging by the trembling, Sakura was no better.

"Take off your clothes." He ordered shortly and barely had time to duck Sakura's flying fists. "So you won't freeze to death Wench." He hollered out. "Unless you want to turn into a human Popsicle, go ahead and stay in that wet clothes." With that, he left and went to the trunk. He was glad that he decided to keep the cleaning of his car for the weekend since he had a spare blanket in there from his picnic with his mother last week. It will have to do; he thought as he took it out and got back into the car.

Sakura hugged herself and tried her best to rub some heat back into her body. She was pale. He noted. Incredibly pale. Her eyes were too large for her face and her lips were turning blue. Cursing, he had to think fast. As much as he blames her for the situation they are in, he would not be that heartless for her to catch pneumonia. Sasuke leaned over, deciding to accept his fate, as he reached out and took off Sakura's shirt despite her shrieks and threats. He hauled her into the backseat, hopped in after her before pulling her close to his body, and covered them both with the picnic blanket. He could feel her trembling body beneath his and it was cold.

"Y-y-you h-ha-had-n-no-r-ri-right-to-d-d-do that." She stuttered out but nevertheless snuggled more into his body heat.

"Yeah, yeah. And you're going to catch a nasty pneumonia if you continue to stay in those clothes." He countered but pulled her closer to rub more heat on her arm.

They did not say anything else for a long time until Sasuke became aware of Sakura's even breathing. She had fallen asleep with her face pressed quite intimately between the crooks of his neck. Her breathing was even and warm. He was also aware that she was also clothes-less except for a pair of boy shorts and a bra. Her warm flesh surrounded him and the scent of her vanilla shampoo became overwhelming, and Sasuke became frigid.

He was suddenly very aware of her full breasts, her soft flat stomach, and her legs that were currently intertwined with his. To the passing eyes, they looked like a couple of teenage couple rumpling the night away.

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheeks when Sakura moved and her body pressed even more closely against his. He was glad that no one was here to witness his downfall for his enemy.

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AN: So, what do you think?